I’m skating dangerously close to the point of OD with the Fiery Furnaces, but that new EP really is damn good. And cohesive, even, I mean, hey. It was a light week for releases, but this one would be a must-buy any week. (All this blathering about it and I didn’t even get a free copy of the disc like seemingly every other music website in existence).

Anyway.

About this time next week, I’ll be saying “it was a light week for releases, but the Black Mountain disc would be a must-buy any week.”

Frank points out that that Mary Timony record will be out in April, on, bizarrely, Lookout.

Frank also pointed out these incredibly awesome videos from TwinTone, circa 1981, featuring a very young, very amazing Replacements.

It was weird to see those videos today, considering that just last night I was watching classic Letterman on Trio, and I caught the television debut of REM from 1983.

So fucking great.

Sigh.

Personally, I like to pretend that REM was mysteriously lost at sea in 1988, right after the release of Green.

border="0" align="right" hspace="4"/>I read on some
board recently about the Wolf Parade LP
being leaked. Shoulda known it was boe-shit.
According to Subpop, the disc is
just now being mixed, and should be out sometime June
or July. Five of the tracks are re-recorded versions
of songs from the EP(s). Thanks to Kevin
Greenideas/Molars for the heads-up.

Hey, I don’t know how many people out there are fans
of Eric
Matthews (I mean besides me), but I just discovered that he’s
got a new record coming out this year (his last record
came out in ’97). It’s called Six Kinds of Passion
Looking For an Exit, and is out March 1st on
Empyrean Records.

If you’re one of those folks that just loves the voice
of Kate Bush or Joanna Newsom, and you also dig the
music of Goldfrapp or Massive Attack, you might want
to check out this mp3 that Parasol put up
from Ak-Momo’s upcoming Return To N.Y.:

Which reminds me, I need to make a clarification about
my comments yesterday regarding Antony and The
Johnsons; I think some people misunderstood. I wasn’t
saying that I love the record, per se. I’m saying
that critics will not be able to shut their
barking pie holes about it. Wait and see.

I really need to get that CD that The Occasion has
out on Say Hey
Records. There’s a handful of mp3s here
at beekiller.net. Their songs kinda give me the
same vibe I felt the first time I heard dios. S’go check
it.

New record from Jason
Anderson (Wolf Colonel) next week, called
Wreath (on K). Here’s the great
opening track:

And really nice quieter stuff from Tiger Saw. Go check
out their mp3 section.

They’ll probably continue to be referred to as a “Matt Pond-offshoot” or “Ex-Matt Pond”, and that’s fine, but it really doesn’t do Audible justice. Folks who know about the Philly music scene will tell you that Audible’s Mike Kennedy is one of the most active and most talented musicians in the city, and his reputation goes far beyond that of the title “Ex-Matt Pond” player. But anyway. Audible’s first proper full-length, Sky Signal will be out on Polyvinyl on January 25th. The first 3 tracks are from that one, the last 2 are not:

So I was rooting around for mp3s by the Jewelled Antler Collective‘s Skygreen Leopards, being that they have a couple of releases out on Jagjaguwar in coming days. I found a track of their Donovany strummin’ over at Soft Abuse:

I also found another good jangle-jangle from that Human Television record:

For those interested, there’s an mp3 available from the upcoming Momus record, Otto Spooky:

Witness a freshly-permed Steve Bays yelping out a new Hot Hot Heat song over at their site. (via hyperkinetic).

Yeah, McLusky broke up, and you know what? I’m actually happy about that. I like that “Not Fade Away” approach. As it stands now, they have an impeccable catalog, and a big fat period on the end. I’m happy in the same way I’m happy that the past 7 years haven’t brought us 5 sub-par Neutral Milk Hotel albums to tarnish the greatness of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. But I sense a huge digression coming on, so I’ma stop right there.

Anyway, I do remember a great joke that McLusky bass-player Jon Chapple told the last time they were here:

What’s the difference between an SUV and a hedgehog?

A hedgehog has a bunch of pricks on the outside.

I guess the Unicorns are done too? Although I am a little skeptical, considering that Paul noted this last Friday, but then decided it was probably only a joke. ?

Stereogum pointed out a few tracks from the upcoming Archer Prewitt record, Wilderness:

Sweet Miles Kurosky shirt. (via kathrynyu.)

Prediction: In one month’s time, you will not be able to swing a dead cat without hearing some music critic gushing over that new Antony and The Johnsons record. I also predict it will far outsell anything Secretly Canadian has ever released, including those last few Jason Molina records.

I think I forgot to mention that Get Him Eat Him posted a new lil’ ditty recently:

Brooklyn Vegan pointed out these tracks from the C86-y Austin band Voxtrot:

The Crystal Skulls sound pretty decent to me. Their album Blocked Numbers is out on Suicide Squeeze on March 22nd.

Denison Witmer had a new record out last year, but I had no idea, since it was released under the name “The River Bends”. He’s got another one coming out early this year (Sufjan guests), but for now, here’s a track from that River Bends record:

There was also a new Skating Club record in ’04 that I didn’t know about, called The Unfound Sound. Here’s the title track:

The Arcade Fire on NPR. Are those guys using the right inflection? Is it really “the arCADE fire”? We’ve all been saying “the ARcade FIRE”, but then again, this is Ohio, and we’re all basically hillbillies.

Tim has news on the in-progress Silver Jews album

The Constantines are out on tour:

Jan 07 – Boston, MA TT THE BEAR’S
Jan 08 – New York, NY MERCURY ROOM
Jan 09 – Philadelphia, PA KHYBER
Jan 11 – Baltimore, MD RAMS HEAD
Jan 12 – Cleveland, OH GROG SHOP
Jan 13 – Detroit, MI LAGER HOUSE
Jan 14 – East Lansing, MI MAC’S BAR
Jan 15 – Chicago, IL EMPTY BOTTLE
Jan 16 – Kalamazoo, MI KRAFTBRAU

Those new Jens Lekman tracks got posted.

Like Subpop? You rich? Then go buy this complete lot of Subpop Singles Club 7-inches on ebay.

Coolfer pointed out this nice limited-edition Best Of The Jam thing. That costs 50 bucks.

Barsuk posted a great track from Aqueduct‘s upcoming I Sold Gold:

(If the link doesn’t work, just copy and paste it.)

I heard there’s a new Joel Plaskett disc coming out in February.

I also heard there’s supposed to be a new Mary Timony record sometime soon?

It’s been hard to shut me up about the Robbers On High Street since I first heard their demo back in ’03. Now, last year, they released a most-excellent EP, Fine Lines, and in February, their full-length Tree City will finally be out (on New Line). I got the promo recently and, no surprise here, it’s pretty damn good stuff. It’s been wearing out my CD-player*. Here are two of my favorite tracks: “Love Underground”, the zippy rocker, dates back to the demo days, and “Bring On The Terror” is a good example of some of the bouncy, poppier stuff on the new record. Enjoy.

[* This phrase "wearing out my CD-player" is, of course, simply a figure of speech. I don't even own a CD player any more. But I refuse to say "wearing out my ipod" or some other such crap like that.]

Check out the opening track from Low‘s The Great Destroyer, out 1/25 on Sub Pop:

Looks like Kaleb and the SCTAS crew survived the new year too, and have announced an upcoming Magnetic Fields tribute disc. You can find all the details here, and please note that they’re still accepting submissions, so if you happen to have some hissy, scratchy recording of yourself covering “Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long”, send it off. I bet Kaleb will dig it.

Also, I was going to tell you how today was a 3-song update over at Secretly Canadian‘s “Jens Lekman’s Department Of Forgotten Songs, but the site’s down, so never mind.

2005, still alive. The January Mix is up. Banner thanks this month go to the very-talented Andy of ohioboy.com, who, in fact, doesn’t actually live in Ohio.